World Helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi crashes, state media says [Update: Raisi and others dead]

[The Helper]

It's now past 11:30 p.m. local time in the remote, mountainous region where the Iranian president's helicopter crashed this afternoon.

It has been approximately 10 hours since authorities lost contact with President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter in the country's East Azerbaijan Province, where dense fog hindered search efforts during the day. Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency warned that extreme cold would only hinder the search further as night fell.

The overnight low temperature in the nearest city of Tabriz will be in the low 50s on Sunday. It's difficult to obtain precise weather data from the remote mountains where the crash took place, but temperatures there will dip closer to freezing, according to CNN meteorologists.

Iranian officials say they have located the exact crash site and are sending teams there. Earlier, authorities managed to make contact with two people who had been aboard the aircraft, according to a government spokesperson.

Live updates: Iran President Ebrahim Raisi in helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan Province; Hamas voices concern

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed while he was visiting a northern region in the country Sunday, according to the Iranian state news agency IRNA. Follow for live updates.

www.cnn.com

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There is no way the CIA was involved with this LOL!

 

[tom_mai78101]

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash along with foreign minister, state media confirm​

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, along with the country's foreign minister and others, were found dead Monday morning hours after their helicopter crashed in dense fog in a mountainous region of the country's northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63.

The crash comes at a hugely tumultuous time for the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi, under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month. Under Raisi, Iran has enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tension with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast such as Yemen's Houthi rebels and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Raisi was also in power through years of major protests against Iran's ruling Shiite Muslim theocracy, of which he was a key member, over the country's ailing economy and women's rights.

All of those factors make the moment more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country, but Iranians were quickly reassured that life would go on as it has by the country's real top power, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash along with foreign minister, state media confirm

Iran's president and foreign minister were killed when their helicopter crashed on a mountainside in dense fog, state media say.

www.cbsnews.com